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Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
Club Notice - 04/29/94 -- Vol. 12, No. 44
MEETINGS UPCOMING:
Unless otherwise stated, all meetings are in Middletown 1R-400C
Wednesdays at noon.
_D_A_T_E _T_O_P_I_C
05/11 BEGGARS IN SPAIN by Nancy Kress (Hugo Nominee)
06/01 GREEN MARS by Kim Stanley Robinson (Hugo Nominee)
06/22 Hugo-nominated short stories
07/13 MOVING MARS by Greg Bear (Hugo Nominee)
08/03 GLORY SEASON by David Brin (Hugo Nominee)
08/24 VIRTUAL LIGHT by William Gibson (Hugo Nominee)
Outside events:
The Science Fiction Association of Bergen County meets on the second
Saturday of every month in Upper Saddle River; call 201-933-2724 for
details. The New Jersey Science Fiction Society meets on the third
Saturday of every month in Belleville; call 201-432-5965 for details.
HO Chair: John Jetzt MT 2G-432 908-957-5087 j.j.jetzt@att.com
LZ Chair: Rob Mitchell HO 1C-523 908-834-1267 j.j.jetzt@att.com
MT Chair: Mark Leeper MT 3D-441 908-957-5619 m.r.leeper@att.com
HO Librarian: Nick Sauer HO 4F-427 908-949-7076 n.j.sauer@att.com
LZ Librarian: Lance Larsen HO 2C-318 908-949-4156 l.f.larsen@att.com
MT Librarian: Mark Leeper MT 3D-441 908-957-5619 m.r.leeper@att.com
Factotum: Evelyn Leeper MT 1F-329 908-957-2070 e.c.leeper@att.com
All material copyright by author unless otherwise noted.
1. Note on upcoming meetings: _B_e_g_g_a_r_s _i_n _S_p_a_i_n is first because it
is now available in mass-market paperback. _G_r_e_e_n _M_a_r_s is now
available in trade paperback. The remaining three are available
only in hardback (I will check about planned paperback
publication), so are scheduled later to allow seeking them out from
friends, libraries, etc. _G_l_o_r_y _S_e_a_s_o_n, _V_i_r_t_u_a_l _L_i_g_h_t, and _B_e_g_g_a_r_s
_i_n _S_p_a_i_n are available from the Monmouth County Library. [-ecl]
===================================================================
THE MT VOID Page 2
2. Some of you have complained that last issue the article we ran
seemed familiar to you. A few have even suggested that the article
as an out-and-out rerun. In fact, what you have observed is one of
Nature's rarest phenomena in action. To understand exactly what
happened, you have to perform this little experiment for yourself.
Take a piece of paper and draw two X's about six inches apart.
Now take a ruler and connect the two centers of the X's with a
straight line. Now we all learned in geometry that the shortest
distance between two points is a straight line. That is certainly
true in the Newtonian universe. But Einstein added a wrinkle to
the whole procedure. Now assume that the sheet of paper is the
fabric of space. Gravitation actually bends space. Take the two
X's and fold the paper so that the X's are right over each other.
Now the shortest distance between the two points is much shorter
than the straight line. This is a wormhole in space.
Now you might reasonably object at this point that the two articles
were not just close, they were identical. Well that is what a
black hole does to space and time. It crushes it down to a single
point. So now I want you to cut a hole in the paper completely
removing one of the X's. Fold the piece of paper so that you can
see the remaining X through the hole. Now take a piece of scotch
tape and completely cover the hole and placing the X right in the
center of the hole so that the two sheets of paper have in common a
circle with an X in it. Let this model represent a wormhole
through space and time, connecting two issues of the MT VOID. A
single article, represented by the X on the piece of paper, sits in
two different issues of the MT VOID. But, you might object, are
you not minus one article because the wormhole in space and time
has crushed together two issues and they intersect into one
article. No. Wake up. You haven't been listening ... or reading
... or thinking about what you read ... whatever. Class, can any
of you help out? Yes, you, Tommy. That's right. Did you all hear
him, class? Yes find the piece you cut out of the original paper.
That's it. Now look carefully at it. It has the missing article.
But you can't read the article, can you? The black hole has
reduced it to a single point, but you have that point for the
missing article. At least you are better off than you are with
this week's article which anyone can see is totally pointless. Oh,
and save a tree. Stop wasting paper by drawing X's and lines on it
just because someone tells you they want to show you something
silly about nature or there won't be any nature left.
===================================================================
3. This is to announce that our factotum, Evelyn Leeper, has again
been nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer. This makes
her fifth nomination....
THE MT VOID Page 3
===================================================================
4. ... which brings us to the announcement of this year's Hugo
nominees:
- Novel
- _M_o_v_i_n_g _M_a_r_s by Greg Bear (Tor)
- _G_l_o_r_y _S_e_a_s_o_n by David Brin (Bantam Spectra)
- _V_i_r_t_u_a_l _L_i_g_h_t by William Gibson (Bantam Spectra)
- _B_e_g_g_a_r_s _i_n _S_p_a_i_n by Nancy Kress (Morrow AvoNova)
- _G_r_e_e_n _M_a_r_s by Kim Stanley Robinson (HarperCollins UK;
Bantam Spectra US)
- Novella
- "The Night We Buried Road Dog" by Jack Cady (F&SF,
January 1993)
- "Mefisto in Onyx" by Harlan Ellison (Omni, October 1993;
Mark V. Ziesing)
- "An American Childhood" by Pat Murphy (Asimov's, April
1993)
- "Into the Miranda Rift" by G. David Nordley (Analog, July
1993)
- "Down in the Bottomlands" by Harry Turtledove (Analog,
January 1993)
- "Wall, Stone, Craft" by Walter Jon Williams (F&SF,
October/November 1993; Axolotl)
- Novelette
- "The Shadow Knows" by Terry Bisson (Asimov's, September
1993; Bears Discover Fire (Tor))
- "The Franchise" by John Kessel (Asimov's, August 1993)
- "Dancing on Air" by Nancy Kress (Asimov's, July 1993)
- "Georgia on My Mind" by Charles Sheffield (Analog,
January 1993)
- "Deep Eddy" by Bruce Sterling (Asimov's, August 1993)
- Short Story
- "England Underway" by Terry Bisson (Omni, July 1993;
Bears Discover Fire (Tor))
- "The Good Pup" by Bridget McKenna (F&SF, March 1993)
- "Mwalimu in the Squared Circle" by Mike Resnick
(Asimov's, March 1993; Alternate Warriors (Tor))
- "The Story So Far" by Martha Soukup (Full Spectrum 4
(Bantam Spectra))
- "Death on the Nile" by Connie Willis (Asimov's, March
1993)
THE MT VOID Page 4
- Non-Fiction Book
- _O_n_c_e _A_r_o_u_n_d _t_h_e _B_l_o_c_h: _A_n _U_n_a_u_t_h_o_r_i_z_e_d _A_u_t_o_b_i_o_g_r_a_p_h_y by
Robert Bloch (Tor)
- _T_h_e _E_n_c_y_c_l_o_p_e_d_i_a _o_f _S_c_i_e_n_c_e _F_i_c_t_i_o_n edited by John Clute
and Peter Nicholls (Orbit UK; St. Martin's US)
- _P_I_T_F_C_S: _P_r_o_c_e_e_d_i_n_g_s _o_f _t_h_e _I_n_s_t_i_t_u_t_e _f_o_r _T_w_e_n_t_y-_F_i_r_s_t
_C_e_n_t_u_r_y _S_t_u_d_i_e_s edited by Theodore R. Cogswell (Advent)
- _U_n_d_e_r_s_t_a_n_d_i_n_g _C_o_m_i_c_s: _T_h_e _I_n_v_i_s_i_b_l_e _A_r_t by Scott McCloud
(Tundra; Kitchen Sink; Harper Perennial)
- _T_h_e _A_r_t _o_f _M_i_c_h_a_e_l _W_h_e_l_a_n: _S_c_e_n_e_s/_V_i_s_i_o_n_s by Michael
Whelan (Bantam Spectra)
- Dramatic Presentation
- _A_d_d_a_m_s _F_a_m_i_l_y _V_a_l_u_e_s (Paramount Pictures); Producer,
Scott Rudin; Director, Barry Sonnenfeld; Screenwriter,
Paul Rudnick
- "The Gathering" (Babylon 5) (Warner Brothers); Executive
producers, Douglas Netter & J. Michael Straczynski;
Director, Richard Compton; Writer, J. Michael Straczynski
- _G_r_o_u_n_d_h_o_g _D_a_y (Columbia Pictures); Producers, Trevor
Albert & Harold Ramis; Director, Harold Ramis;
Screenwriters, Danny Rubin & Harold Ramis
- _J_u_r_a_s_s_i_c _P_a_r_k (Universal); Producers, Kathleen Kennedy &
Gerald R. Malen; Director, Steven Spielberg;
Screenwriters, Michael Crichton & David Koepp
- _T_h_e _N_i_g_h_t_m_a_r_e _B_e_f_o_r_e _C_h_r_i_s_t_m_a_s (Touchstone Pictures);
Producers, Tim Burton & Denise DiNovi; Director, Henry
Selick; Screenwriter, Caroline Thompson
- Professional Editor
- Ellen Datlow (_O_m_n_i, various anthologies)
- Gardner Dozois (_A_s_i_m_o_v'_s, various anthologies)
- Mike Resnick (various anthologies)
- Kristine Kathryn Rusch (Pulphouse, _F&_S_F)
- Stanley Schmidt (_A_n_a_l_o_g)
- Professional Artist
- Thomas Canty
- David Cherry
- Bob Eggleton
- Don Maitz
- Michael Whelan
- Original Artwork
- Cover of F&SF, October/November 1993 (illustrating "The
Little Things", B. McKenna), by Thomas Canty
THE MT VOID Page 5
- Space Fantasy Commemorative Stamp Booklet, by Stephen
Hickman (U.S. Postal Service)
- Cover of Asimov's, November 1993 (illustrating "Cold
Iron", M. Swanwick), by Keith Parkinson
- Semi-Prozine
- _I_n_t_e_r_z_o_n_e edited by David Pringle
- _L_o_c_u_s edited by Charles N. Brown
- _T_h_e _N_e_w _Y_o_r_k _R_e_v_i_e_w _o_f _S_c_i_e_n_c_e _F_i_c_t_i_o_n edited by David G.
Hartwell, Donald G. Keller, Robert K.J. Killheffer, and
Gordon Van Gelder
- _P_u_l_p_h_o_u_s_e edited by Dean Wesley Smith and Jonathan E.
Bond
- _S_c_i_e_n_c_e _F_i_c_t_i_o_n _C_h_r_o_n_i_c_l_e edited by Andrew Porter
- _T_o_m_o_r_r_o_w _S_p_e_c_u_l_a_t_i_v_e _F_i_c_t_i_o_n edited by Algis Budrys
- Fanzine
- _A_n_s_i_b_l_e edited by Dave Langford
- _F_i_l_e _7_7_0 edited by Mike Glyer
- _L_a_n'_s _L_a_n_t_e_r_n edited by George "Lan" Laskowski
- _M_i_m_o_s_a edited by Dick and Nicki Lynch
- _S_t_e_t edited by Leah Zeldes Smith and Dick Smith
- Fan Writer
- Sharon Farber
- Mike Glyer
- Andy Hooper
- Dave Langford
- Evelyn C. Leeper
- Fan Artist
- Brad W. Foster
- Teddy Harvia
- Linda Michaels
- Peggy Ranson
- William Rotsler
- Stu Shiffman
- John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer of 1991-1992
(Sponsored by Dell Magazines)
- Holly Lisle (2nd year of eligibility)
- Jack Nimersheim (2nd year of eligibility)
- Carrie Richerson (2nd year of eligibility)
- Amy Thomson (1st year of eligibility)
- Elizabeth Willey (1st year of eligibility)
THE MT VOID Page 6
===================================================================
5. CRONOS (a film review by Mark R. Leeper):
Capsule review: This is genuinely a cutting-edge
art house monster movie. It is visually striking,
has a real "what-happens-next?" plot, and some
intriguing human relationships. It has been a long
time since a new monster movie has played to art
film audiences, but this one is worth it. Rating:
high +2 (-4 to +4)
Sometime I say "don't trust me on this one because it is not my
kind of film. On this one I say don't trust me because it _i_s my
kind of film. From an early age I have loved the horror film. But
I have to say that the horror film rarely likes me. Too often the
horror film just feeds off films made earlier. It has sequels that
are really remakes and even films in which each ten minutes is a
remake of the last ten minutes. The sort of thing you see is
"Another teenager is fooling around for nine minutes, then Jason
attacks and kills him." What changes from film to film is the
prosthetic makeup, the special effects, and very little else. The
feeling I most prize in a horror film is not chills but curiosity.
There are far too few films that make me wonder what the heck is
going to happen next. Horror films that do that include _C_a_r_n_i_v_a_l
_o_f _S_o_u_l_s, _L_i_f_e_f_o_r_c_e, _T_h_e _D_e_v_i_l _R_i_d_e_s _O_u_t, _T_o _t_h_e _D_e_v_i_l _a _D_a_u_g_h_t_e_r,
_C_r_o_n_o_s, and not nearly enough other horror films. What makes
_C_r_o_n_o_s a particular surprise is that it comes from Mexico, a
country whose horror films have so often lacked style and
originality. Occasionally there will be an atmospheric scene in a
Mexican vampire film, but by and large there has not been a whole
lot to interest foreign markets. Now Guillermo Del Toro has made
what may have been for me the most enjoyable and creative horror
film of the 90s.
In 1536 an alchemist fleeing the Inquisition came to Mexico where
he continued his work on immortality until his death in the 1930s.
The authorities were shocked by what they found in his rooms, sold
off his belongings, and considered the matter closed. In 1996, an
antiques dealer, Jesus Gris (played by Federico Luppi) finds a
strange antique clockwork mechanism hidden in the base of a statue.
It looks like a very large pocket watch, the size of a bar of soap,
crossed with a mechanical scorpion. Wind it up and it sprouts legs
and stings the hand that is holding it. It is a nasty trick, but
that is just the beginning. Roughly speaking I will say that it
does fall into an overly-familiar horror genre, but it presses
buttons that genre rarely approaches.
This is a film of stylish images and delightful subtle humor.
Little visual images like the monster walking the streets of Mexico
in what looks like a tuxedo worn back to front (don't worry, in
THE MT VOID Page 7
context it makes perfect sense) spice the film and make it a pure
pleasure to watch. Del Toro, who both wrote and directed, has an
impressive visual sense without ever letting the special effects or
the makeup take over the film. Also to be treasured are the few
looks we get inside the Cronos Device itself.
Del Toro is a well-known film fan in Latin America having grown up
on United States and British horror films, _O_u_t_e_r _L_i_m_i_t_s, and
_T_w_i_l_i_g_h_t _Z_o_n_e. He wrote the definitive Latin American study of the
works of Alfred Hitchcock (which he calls a 540-page love letter to
Hitchcock made public). Now he is making his own horror films to
compete in Mexico with those made in the United States and if this
first film is any indication he is exceeding his goal. Sr. Del
Toro, please continue to make original films like this one.
_C_r_o_n_o_s is one of the most enjoyable horror films I have seen since
I was a teen, I would rate it a high +2 on the -4 to +4 scale.
===================================================================
6. MAKING BOOK by Teresa Nielsen Hayden (NESFA Press, ISBN 0-
915368-55-2, 1994, 158pp, US$9.95) (a book review by Evelyn C.
Leeper):
This collection of fifteen essays was one of two Boskone XXXI
souvenir books. (The other was a Emma Bull-Will Shetterly
collaboration.) The essays cover a wide range of topics: Mormon
theology, narcolepsy, what was _r_e_a_l_l_y wrong with Bret Easton
Ellis's _A_m_e_r_i_c_a_n _P_s_y_c_h_o, how academic research works, and the best
explanation for and example of why the serial comma is needed (at
least that I've seen).
The first (Mormon theology) is in "God and I," where, lest you be
misled, Teresa Nielsen Hayden warns you up front that she had
recently (as of 1980, when it was written) been excommunicated by
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the preferred
term, especially if one is paid by the word--which of course I'm
not). Narcolepsy is mentioned or discussed in several of the
essays, since it was the reason for many of the lifestyle changes
Teresa Nielsen Hayden went through. What was really wrong with
_A_m_e_r_i_c_a_n _P_s_y_c_h_o turns out to be everything, explained as only
Teresa Nielsen Hayden could explain it. The problem with academic
research, she says, is a "sort of scholarly equivalent of Gresham's
Law about bad money driving out good," and uses the (one hopes)
hypothetical Pastafazool Cycle as an example. And the serial
comma? That would be telling.
It has traditionally been difficult to get examples off fannish
writing. Computer networks are changing all that, of course. Most
of the people nominated for Hugos for Fan Writer are on-line now.
THE MT VOID Page 8
And indeed, the last two essays here are from GEnie. But if you
want to see what was written back in the days of *gasp* stencils
and mimeographs, then NESFA has provided it. If your local
bookstore does have _M_a_k_i_n_g _B_o_o_k, I'm amazed! But if it doesn't,
you can order it from NESFA Press, P. O. Box 809, Framingham MA
01701-0203.
===================================================================
7. SERIAL MOM (a film review by Mark R. Leeper):
Capsule review: Turner has a great time mugging as
a psychopathic Donna-Reed-like housewife in a
particularly interesting John Waters film.
Objectively, this film is not very good, but it is
still recommended to fans of Waters. Rating: 0 (-4
to +4)
David Lynch says it by showing a happy American family then panning
his camera to show a chaos of worms and insects crawling around
underground. Under the sterile and clean surface crawls and
slithers the dark, hidden side of the world. John Waters makes the
same point, but makes it a lot more fun. Inside every Harriet
Nelson or Donna Reed is a raging, indignant Jack the Ripper
struggling to get out and surgically slice away the ugliness from
life. The first scene of _S_e_r_i_a_l _M_o_m really tells it all. It is a
sunny, spring morning and perky mother Beverly Sutphin (played by
Kathleen Turner) is happily serving a nutritionally balanced
breakfast to her family including her prosperous dentist husband
(Sam Waterston) and children Misty and Chip. Suddenly the pristine
sweetness of the morning is invaded by a fly and Beverly goes into
action to defend her territory. She stalks the interloper and
mercilessly swats the fly who, in dying, seems to contain more
juice than a blueberry. Beverly is one of society's antibodies.
She knows that her world needs rules to maintain order and she is
ready to defend it from people who steal parking spaces, who refuse
to recycle, or who cannot be bothered rewinding rented
videocassettes.
Waters has made Beverly Sutphin into everyone who has ever shown
contempt for his films and the lifestyles he depicts. She is the
personification of the pristine norms of society and their less
than charitable defense. But paradoxically she goes so far that
she also is placing herself outside the norms of the society she is
defending. And Waters cannot resist turning her into a sort of
hero standing against society. There is more than a little feel of
the feel of _F_a_l_l_i_n_g _D_o_w_n here as Beverly channels our own indignant
anger and takes vengeance for us against the selfish jerks who are
making life worse for everyone else. So we have this interesting
reversal for Waters where he is defending the precise people for
THE MT VOID Page 9
whom through his whole film career he has been showing contempt.
This is also a very unusual film for Turner. The script calls for
someone a little bit frowzy and a little bit overweight. In fact
the part could have even been played by Waters's former star
Divine. But matronly is certainly how Turner appears. It is
difficult to look at her here and see the woman who was the
passionate attraction in _B_o_d_y _H_e_a_t. But time has shown that that
sort of film is not really where she is best. Where comedy is hard
for most actors, it appears to come as naturally to Turner as it
did to Carol Lombard.
I am a little unsure what to rate _S_e_r_i_a_l _M_o_m. If I divorce myself
from all knowledge of John Waters and the films he has made in the
past and look at the film totally as a stand-alone film it is no
better than cable fare. Certainly there is no shortage of films
that make fun of the clean image of the 1950s situation comedy
family. However, Waters has always made fun of those values so has
special license to continue. It is a running gag. What gives this
film its interest is that it is a John Waters film. I guess the
fair thing to do would be to rate it only a 0 on the -4 to +4
scale, but still to urge fans of Waters and fringe fans (my
category, by the way) to see the film. Even for them far more
recommended would be the HBO film _T_h_e _P_o_s_i_t_i_v_e_l_y _T_r_u_e _A_d_v_e_n_t_u_r_e_s _o_f
_t_h_e _A_l_l_e_g_e_d _T_e_x_a_s _C_h_e_e_r_l_e_a_d_e_r-_M_u_r_d_e_r_i_n_g _M_o_m which does everything
this film does and still manages to ring true and be perceptive.
===================================================================
8. RED ROCK WEST (a film review by Mark R. Leeper):
Capsule review: Newcomer filmmakers John and Rick
Dahl have the knack of really holding an audience's
attention. This is a tense and twisty crime
thriller worthy of Jim Thompson. Catch it quick
because it is getting only a very short release.
Rating: +2 (-4 to +4)
The Coen Brothers, Joel and Ethan, introduced themselves to the
world of cinema with _B_l_o_o_d _S_i_m_p_l_e, an inexpensively made crime
thriller set in Texas. Their next film was the comedy _R_a_i_s_i_n_g
_A_r_i_z_o_n_a and they never returned to their original style. Now two
more brothers, John and Rick Dahl, have come on the scene with
their own tightly-written crime thriller, and you can be certain
these brothers will be around for a while. _R_e_d _R_o_c_k _W_e_s_t is a
tense, edge-of-the-seat sort of crime film that could easily be
taken for some Coen Brothers lost second film.
The action takes place entirely in or near the fly-speck Wyoming
town of the title. Michael (nicely under-played by Nicholas Cage)
THE MT VOID Page 10
comes to this area all the way from Texas for a promised job that
evaporates when he is too honest about a knee injured during his
time in the Marines. Out of luck and totally out of money he goes
into Red Rock to see if he can get any kind of a job. There he
meets Wayne (J. T. Walsh). Wayne has hired someone named Lyle from
Texas for a job. Wayne sees Michael's license plates and assumes
this is Lyle. Michael decides to pretend to be Lyle and grab up
the job first. Then Michael finds out what the job is. He has to
murder Wayne's wife Suzanne (Lara Flynn Boyle). Then the plot
twists start coming. And they keep on coming. In fact, except for
one sex scene there isn't a five-minute section of film that
doesn't have some sort of radical plot twist. Michael is one
innocent and honest man who finds himself in a nest of biting
vipers. He has just the one wish: to get out of Red Rock. That
sounds simple, but time and again events drag him into the town.
As he gets more and more deeply involved his chances of just
staying alive become smaller and smaller. One of the marks of how
suspenseful this film is was the nervous laughter in audience as
twists are revealed. The film is plotted so that nearly every
apparent loose end attaches someplace else, much like Scorsese's
_A_f_t_e_r _H_o_u_r_s.
After Cage's over-the-top performances in films like _V_a_m_p_i_r_e'_s _K_i_s_s
it is nice to see him underplaying a little. Walsh also is nicely
menacing. Only Dennis Hopper seems insufficiently restrained as a
fellow ex-Marine who runs into Michael almost literally.
_R_e_d _R_o_c_k _W_e_s_t is a tidy little film noir thriller and an auspicious
debut for the Brothers Dahl. The film has gotten only a very
modest theatrical release and simultaneously is being released to
video. Apparently no major distributor wanted to take a chance on
it. With the reviews it has been getting there are going to be a
lot of distribution executives looking for work in places like Red
Rock, Wyoming. They should remember to find out what the new job
is before they accept it.
Welcome to the film game, John and Rick. Stick around. I think
you're gonna make it. I give _R_e_d _R_o_c_k _W_e_s_t a +2 on the -4 to +4
scale.
Mark Leeper
MT 3D-441 908-957-5619
m.r.leeper@att.com
The United States, to my eye, is incomparably the greatest
show on earth ... we have clowns among us who are as far
above the clowns of any other great state as Jack Dempsey is
above the paralytic--and not a few dozen or score of them,
but whole droves and herds.
-- H. L. Mencken